Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Copyright Infringment Lawsuit

A copyright lawsuit is started when a Complaint is filed with a pertinent federal court. The Defendant doesn't have to do anything until he receives a copy of the complaint served formally. There are various ways the complaint can be served, but email is not one of them.

After the Complaint has been formally served, a defendant generally must file a formal response with the court and send a copy to the plaintiff's lawyer. The deadline is 20 days after service of the Complaint, unless the plaintiff uses an optional "service and acceptance by mail" procedure which provides for 60 days to respond.

You didn't say whether you are located in New York. It is possible that the court does not have jurisdiction over you and that if you wish, a motion to dismiss the case or transfer it to a federal court nearby might be appropriate.

Because the deadlines involved in litigation can be rather short (although extensions can often be obtained either by agreement with opposing counsel or else by approval of the court) it would be desirable for you to consult an attorney soon so that you can deal with the matter without getting into a panic. For example, a lawyer could confirm whether the data that they provided in the email represents a real law suit on file, and could discuss with you possible strategies for responding to the plaintiff's allegations.

Re: Copyright Infringment Lawsuit

Dear Sir,

We refer to your e-mail to lawguru.com on the above. Please be advised that we still need to check the documents sent to you via e-mail in order to advise you further. Thank you.

Regards

Re: Copyright Infringment Lawsuit

The earlier reply by Mr. Elman is clear and accurate in regard to the lawsuit itself.

From a business perspective this case may be important for you to defend if you have business contacts in the US.

In the event that a default judgment is obtained against you because you do not appear in the action to defend yourself, the plaintiff in the action may seek to seize property of yours in the US (e.g., inventory, receivables, bank accounts, etc.) to recover his default judgment. If you ship products to the US which are deemed to be violations of the copyright owned by the plaintiff, then the plaintiff may ask the US Customs Department to seize all of your products which are shipped to the US which are deemed to violate the plaintiff's copyrights.

If you are at risk in regard to property in the US or shipments to the US, you should immediately move to protect yourself against a default judgment by engaging a US lawyer in the jurisdiction where the lawsuit was filed.

Good luck.